Hotel boom in Greensboro

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The Greensboro area, not including High Point has 9,268 hotel rooms and that number is going to continue to grow with the opening of the Proximity Hotel, Doubletree and several planned hotels near the airport. There are even potential large hotel projects considered for downtown. The hotel boom near the airport has to do with the opening of the FedEx hub. Also Amerisuites at Wendover and I-40 will become a Hyatt Place, the region's first Hyatt hotel. That hotel will open this fall. Hyatt usually opens hotels in big city markets. So it will be the Triad's first upscale chain brand hotel.

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Not to put a damper on this, but Hyatt actually bought out AmeriSuites to turn it into their own "extended-stay" brand of hotels. Hyatt is focusing more on these kinds of hotels than the ones you would see in downtown Atlanta or New York. I wouldn't consider this upscale since Charlotte now has about five of these Hyatt Place hotels along with many other cities.

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Not to put a damper on this, but Hyatt actually bought out AmeriSuites to turn it into their own "extended-stay" brand of hotels. Hyatt is focusing more on these kinds of hotels than the ones you would see in downtown Atlanta or New York. I wouldn't consider this upscale since Charlotte now has about five of these Hyatt Place hotels along with many other cities.

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What I'm glad to see is Greensboro's many recent proposals of boutique hotels. That is one thing I never thought I would see in the Triad. Also, isn't the Holiday Inn Select near the Macy's on Wendover under construction?

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something seems to be under construction there. I know that coming soon sign has been there for ever. Its suppose to be a mid-rise Holiday Inn Select (between 6 and 8 stories) with corporate apartments.

update: I didnt realize plans have been revised. Its now suppose to be a Crown Plaza Hotel instead of Holiday Inn Select. It looks like they are behind schedule with construction though. It was suppose to be open earlier this year. The hotel is also suppose to include 13 luxury condos. That would mean Greensboro would have two upscale "name brand" hotels (Hyatt & Crowne Plaza). This certianly helps Greensboro with its convention business.

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The site where the Holiday Inn was supposed to be built on is now a department store or something (HHGregs I think) and there isn't much land left to build a hotel on, and the land that is left has a sign advertising an out parcel for sale. I'm pretty sure they aren't going to build a hotel on that site now.

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The Greensboro area, not including High Point has 9,268 hotel rooms and that number is going to continue to grow with the opening of the Proximity Hotel, Doubletree and several planned hotels near the airport. There are even potential large hotel projects considered for downtown. The hotel boom near the airport has to do with the opening of the FedEx hub. Also Amerisuites at Wendover and I-40 will become a Hyatt Place, the region's first Hyatt hotel. That hotel will open this fall. Hyatt usually opens hotels in big city markets. So it will be the Triad's first upscale chain brand hotel.

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Winston-Salem had a Hyatt many years ago, downtown near the convention center. I think it may have been the same building where the Embassy Suites is now. My prom was held there in the 80's... There was also an ice skating rink in the lower level...Beneath the Elms. Anyway, this won't be the first Hyatt in the Triad...

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Hyatt Place is not an upscale brand - it's akin to Starwood's ALoft brand, only with much more banal roadside architecture. The former Sheraton hotel in downtown GSO (not sure what it is now) and the Marriott and Embassy Suites hotels in downtown W-S are much nicer hotels than Hyatt Place properties. And, the Embassy Suites hotel was actually the state's first Hyatt Hotel. The Marriott, originally built as a Stouffer hotel (a brand of hotels that was dissolved as Stouffer got out of the business), was part of a small, upscale brand of hotels that included The Mayflower in Washington, DC among other high-end properties. The Proximity Hotel will probably be a much higher end property than the Hyatt Place GSO.

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To put forth another comparison from the automotive world, anyone remember the 1980's Caddilac Cimarron (a rebadged Chevrolet Cavalier)? Yes, it's labeled as a Caddy, but it didn't garner the same respect as a Fleetwood or Eldorado. Same thing for the difference between a Marriot Marquis and Marriot Coutyard.

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As noted in a few of the comments above, there may be nothing particularly remarkable or special about most Hyatt Place hotels, but what is important here is that Hyatt does not put these hotels simply anywhere. Their presence (or rumored presence) is usually a sign of a robust hotel market. They fill a niche which is good enough, but they aren't usually built just anywhere. Take comfort in the idea that this is a sign of a healthy market in your city.